CastleGarde’s Business Continuity Planning services provide the Credit Union a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that is in compliance with NCUA, FFIEC, and industry best practices. Services also include a gap analysis and business impact analysis. We focus on business continuity planning which is comprised of merging the IT focused Business Recovery Plan and the business focused Business Resumption Plan. Most consider these traditional plans to be mutually exclusive, when in fact, the merging of the two into a BCP provides the highest degree of success in handling disaster situations and business interruptions.

CastleGarde utilizes an industry standard project methodology approach comprised of the following five project phases:

Assessment - current environment and scope. Establish status quo, technology, and business topology. In this step, the Business Impact Analysis is performed and Maximum Tolerable Downtimes are determined. This is the identification stage of the engagement.

Architecture - the overall needs and deliverables of the project and includes evaluating recovery strategy alternatives.

Implementation - work with Credit Union to develop the required processes, procedures and policies to meet the requirements as outlined in the architecture phase. This phase includes the development of the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans. Also included would be the updating of the Information Security Standards and Procedures manual as necessary based on BCP driven changes.

Manage - provide ongoing support of the plan including the assessment of actual business recovery disaster drills/offsite tests. Training is provided to Credit Union employees on the existence and substance of the Credit Union Business Continuity Plan.

Maintain - provide ongoing maintenance and updates of the Business Continuity Plan in coordination with the Credit Union.

The approach and methodology are a standard project management approach affording us the opportunity to utilize standard project management tools during execution. The use of the tools allows the Credit Union to monitor the progress of the project and better manage Credit Union staff and resources that will be utilized throughout the engagement.